FOUR top Queen’s Counsel were each paid more than £500,000 for prosecuting criminal trials in 2004-05, it was revealed yesterday.
The highest-earning prosecuting barrister was Richard Horwell, whose cases include the prosecution of the two men who killed John Monckton, the City financier, in his Chelsea home. The figures were released by Mike O’Brien, the Solicitor-General, who said that Mr Horwell was paid a gross figure of £568,254 including VAT, out of the public purse.
Mr Horwell prosecuted Damien Hanson and Elliot White for the killing of Mr Monckton and attempted killing of his wife, in front of one of their children; as well as the “happy slap” gang who killed David Morley, the bar manager, on London’s South Bank. Mr Horwell also led the case at the Old Bailey against the men who killed three generations of a family — Amarjit Chohan, his wife, Nancy, their two sons and Mrs Chohan ‘s mother, Charanjit Kaur — in an attempt to take over the family’s business.
The second-highest-paid barrister — before deductions for chambers’ overheads and tax — was Mark Dennis, who received £566,981 during the same period, and prosecuted Antoni Imiela, the M25 rapist, in 2004. Jonathan Laidlaw came third, receiving £540,885, followed by Nigel Ingram, who was paid £509,894.
But in a parliamentary written answer to Andrew Dismore, MP, Mr O’Brien noted that the amounts paid did not necessarily reflect the work carried out during that year, and should not be equated with personal earnings.
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Barristers typically pay out 25 per cent to 30 per cent of fees in professional expenses, before tax and national insurance, he said. Nicholas Hilliard, who prosecuted the former deputy head teacher Siôn Jenkins, acquitted last week in the third trial over the murder of his foster daughter, Billie-Jo, was paid £448,861 for work in 2004-05.
The other lawyers named were Brian Altman, David Cocks, QC, Richard Lissack, QC, Aftab Jafferjee and Patrick Harrington, QC. The research covered only barristers instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service, Serious Fraud Office and Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office, not high-earning defence QCs.
BUT HERE’S WHERE THE REAL MONEY IS. . .